Cleveland is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the U.S. state of Ohio. The municipality is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, in the Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the river, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at the head of numerous canals and railroad lines. With the decline of heavy manufacturing, Cleveland's businesses have diversified into the service economy, including the financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors.

As of the 2000 Census, the city proper had a total population of 478,403, making it the 33rd largest city in the nation and the second largest city in Ohio. Recent estimates from the United States Census Bureau show it to currently be the 36th largest in the nation. It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio, which spans several counties and is defined in several different ways by the Census Bureau. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area has 2,250,871 people and is the 23rd largest in the country. Cleveland is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which is the 14th largest in the country with a population of 2,945,831 according to the 2000 Census.

City residents and tourists benefit from investments made by wealthy residents in the city's heyday, in arts and cultural institutions, and philanthropy also helped to establish a robust public library system in the city. More recent investments have provided the city with tourist attractions in the downtown area, such as Jacobs Field, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Playhouse Square Center. In studies conducted by The Economist in 2005, Cleveland and Pittsburgh were ranked as the most livable cities in the United States, and the city was ranked as the best city for business meetings in the continental U.S. Nevertheless, the city faces continuing challenges, in particular from concentrated poverty in some neighborhoods and difficulties in the funding and delivering of high-quality public education.

Residents of Cleveland are usually referred to as Clevelanders. Nicknames used for the city include The Forest City, Metropolis of the Western Reserve, The New American City, America's North Coast, and C-Town. Its nineteen sister cities include Volgograd, Russia; Bratislava, Slovakia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Miskolc, Hungary; Bangalore, India; and Alexandria, Egypt.